For Bookworms Only

Graceling by Kristin Cashore

Overall Rating: 3.1/5 stars.
PROS:  Katsa is an EXTREMELY strong character, physically and emotionally, I mean. I give her kudos cuz you know this girl is not going to be crying over a broken nail anytime soon.
CONS: Katsa annoyed the crap out of me sometimes, and the use of the word “child”.
What List should it be on? This book is going on my “Worthy of a Second Read” List.
If this novel were turned into movie, which awards would it get? No Oscars nod for this novel. But, it’d get like an MTV Movie Award for Best Fight and maybe a nomination for Best Kiss.

So, in continuing with my YA fantasy kicks, I decided to pick up Graceling. What to say about this book? Hm, well honestly, I didn’t enjoy it all that much. Why? Hm, well the bottom review should somehow answer that question for me. I’m not entirely sure myself. It had everything a good book needed to have, but the greatest flaw I can point out about this novel immediately is the fact that one of the main characters was just a big. fat. pain. Let’s get started, yeah??

Read the rest of the review here: http://minhlovesbooks.blogspot.com/2011/03/graceling-by-kristin-cashore.html

=]]

Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler

“Nothing ever really goes away—it just changes into something else. Something beautiful.”

Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler is the story of Anna Riley and her best friend Frankie’s summer vacation in Zanzibar Bay. The summer before their vacation Anna and Frankie’s brother, Matt, had a summer romance.  When Matt suddenly dies before he and Anna get a chance to tell Frankie about their relationship Anna is left struggling with her own feelings for Matt and what to do about the secret she and Matt hid from Frankie.  

I read 100 books in 2010 and this book made my top five for the year. This book is emotionally raw and really beautifully written. There’s honesty in this book that I think is rare in a lot of young adult fiction. Anna is struggling with so much, yet she hides it because she wants to help Frankie grieve for Matt, forgoing the chance to grieve him herself.

Anna and Frankie are both great characters, and I really felt this book showed how teens deal with their emotions when they’re faced with a tragedy. Frankie, especially, has some really emotional moments where I found myself truly feeling sorry for her, in many ways.

Not only does Frankie have some great moments, but Anna is a great heroine, she’s likable and kind. She is battling so many different emotions throughout the book, struggling with the secret she and Matt kept from Frankie, and trying to find a way to move on from the romance she had with Matt.

I cannot recommend this book to people enough; it has romance and friendship, love and loss all rolled up into one amazingly well told story.

The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins

Overall Rating: 4.4/5 stars for this AWESOME series.
PRO: Dystopian societies; hardcore epic fighting scenes; really gives me opportunities to think up of rockin’ film trailers for the series in my head, set to some epic music. EPIC!!
CON: Nada. Distracts me from schoolwork…
To-Read Again Candidate? Hecks to the yes. Already read the first book twice. Goin’ on the Really Good Books list. Savin’ up money to buy all sorts of HGT material (boxed set, bookmarks, posters…I’m broke, so it’ll be a while before I can even get the boxed set…Boo.)

Read the rest of the review here: http://minhlovesbooks.blogspot.com/2011/02/hunger-games-trilogy-by-suzanne-collins.html

The Sweet Far Thing by Libba Bray

“And that is how change happens. One gesture. One person. One moment at a time.”

Everyone has an opinion on how Gemma Doyle should conduct her affairs. Everyone, that is, except for Gemma. As a young girl approaching her debut into society in Victorian London, Gemma has little say in her life. On top of learning how to behave like a proper lady, Gemma has recently bound the magic of the realms, a mystical world where the lines between good and evil are blurred, to herself. Gemma has promised to form an alliance with the creatures of the Realms and share the magic with them, but she is only just beginning to understand it herself. And all the while, the magic within her is changing. She doesn’t know who she can trust anymore, both within the world of magic and the real world.

The third and final book in the Gemma Doyle trilogy has both it’s upsides and it’s downsides. The book tends to move slowly at first (which makes it difficult to read at first), however early on you can feel the tension building as Gemma struggles to decide what to do about the magic. No one will tell her the full truth, and so Gemma often takes matters into her own hands, deciding to find answers in her own way, although often times her way creates more problems than solves. Because of the constantly building tension, you don’t see too much real action until at least halfway through the book (and the book is over 800 pages!).

Where this book really shines through is the commentary on the views of women in Victorian England, and the beginning of Suffrage Movement. In the first two books, Gemma is shown like any other girl born into privilege. She is supposed to act like a lady, behave, and have no proper opinions of her own. You can sense that neither Gemma nor her friends agrees with this sentiment, and that viewpoint is finally brought to light in this books. She sees poor girls who work in factories protesting on the streets for equal pay. Gemma’s friend Anne, not content to become a governess for her cousin’s children, attempting to instead become an actress. Felicity, who is known for her outrageous behavior, wants only to make her debut so she can gain her inheritance and move to Paris, where the Feminist movement is gaining huge popularity. And Gemma does not know what she wants, only that she does not want to be one of those girls who does not get a say how to live her life.

It was an enjoyable book overall, although it probably could have been 200 pages shorter without loosing too much content. It also could have been much stronger if there was an even larger focus on feminism and the Suffrage movement rather than using it as a sort of after thought to Gemma’s story in the Realms. Despite that, this book was a good wrap up to the trilogy, filling in all the plot holes left open in previous books.